


duet

by popsky



Series: bright burning - ereri oneshots [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Episode 67 Coda, Eren and Levi Reunion Post-Kick to the Face, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Marley Arc (Shingeki no Kyojin), Past Relationship(s), Post-Break Up, Reunions, or whatever you call Eren fucking off to Marley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29145834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/popsky/pseuds/popsky
Summary: “How long are you going to hate me?” he asks Levi when they’re alone, a selfish act put on by a selfish, selfish man.(or: After two years, Eren and Levi meet again.)
Relationships: Levi Ackerman/Eren Yeager
Series: bright burning - ereri oneshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2180067
Comments: 14
Kudos: 199





	duet

**Author's Note:**

> The Ereri scene in Ep. 67 was too short so I took it upon myself to give you the deleted scene that was in there, trust me, I spoke to MAPPA. What’s ereri without some angst no comfort, am I right, lads?

Eren’s eyes are as bright and green as always glowing past the dirty mess of hair clinging to his hallowed face. They land on Levi with a similar gravity to that first day, half-titan, half-man. A similar gratitude. He had thought Eren gullible but it’s Levi who’s naive, who keeps sprinting into battles to save him; Eren knowing he will.Before, pleading had been enough, a sharp glare, a rare smile, tugging on Eren’s hair and flicking at his blushing nose; Levi could control him. Now that he’s grown up and properly broken, Levi wonders if anything can stand in Eren’s way.

“How long are you going to hate me?” he asks Levi when they’re alone, a selfish act put on by a selfish, selfish man.

Levi won’t give him the pleasure of fishing out a reaction. “I don’t.”

Eren smiles, tipping back his head to let his hair drape over his shoulders, face brought into the harsh overhead lights.

“Then, how long until you like me again?” he questions, eyes dragging over Levi’s body, catching on all the places the tight, dark suit flatters his physique. He’s not subtle, never shy. In his time exiled, has only gotten bolder, looks at Levi with the parched intensity of a man who has nothing to lose—the man he always was having realized who he can be.

Levi scoffs and rolls his eyes. Visiting had been a mistake. There was nothing left to discuss, deaths mourned, miscalculations dealt with. Eren asked for him and he ignored it, asked again, quieter, and Levi was fine following the rest of the team out and locking the door behind him. He’s a traitor and a coward to show up when people are sleeping.

“Am I not pretty anymore, captain?” Eren pushes his buttons and Levi grinds his teeth against the unspoken accusation, doesn’t think Eren daring enough to speak it out loud but, “Because I’m not a kid?” he provokes.

“Because you’re a rat!” Levi charges him.

Eren flinches, arm covering his face, expecting another blow where the last one has yet to heal—he’s too weak—and Levi shouldn’t feel guilty seeing it, shouldn’t swallow pain, shouldn’t have stopped himself from kicking him either. He leans over Eren’s pathetic figure, crowding him against the wall. He’s not allowed to stand. The restraints won’t let him. Not allowed to change or wash.

“A filthy, rotting rat with no loyalties to anyone.” And, fuck, Levi wants to hurt him.

“I’ve been loyal to you,” Eren looks up defiantly, snapping his eyes to Levi’s mouth before Levi can challenge them. “I waited for you, you know?”

Like it fucking matters who he fucked being this fucked in the head, like Levi spent sleepless nights debating whether he had partners, not whether he was alive, whether he was being tortured, what nightmare awaited the scouts the day they saw Eren’s titan towering on the sand and it charged straight for their jaws.

“I’m not saying you should have me now,” the stubborn bitch stays his course. “I realize I’m not the most appealing at my current state but...” He masks a smirk, twirls a strand of hair between his fingers. “Will you?”

“Eren.” Levi crouches beside him. Eren winces at the tone.

“Don’t,” he mutters, glaring at the floor, his jaw set. “Don’t try.”

“Eren,” Levi repeats out of cruelty, to chase the shiver as it wracks down Eren’s spine. It doesn’t matter how big and bad he grows, he will always be the desperate weakling crawling into Levi’s bed every night, _begging_ , for relief, forgiveness, for meaning, for an ounce of love. Fists curled in Levi’s shirt, crying for Levi to let him end his pain, and terrified that, one night, Levi might finally say yes. 

“Answer the question,” Eren whispers.

“Have you outgrown me?” Levi asks one of his own, placing a hand on top of Eren’s head, following the cascade of hair to the back of Eren’s neck, curling his fingers around his nape, a gesture as possessive as it is protective. This is where he’s weakest at his strongest, his soft spot, where he loves being kissed, where Levi would press his nose on rare times Levi held him in his arms, nights they both knew wouldn’t last. This is where Levi will kill him if he keeps doing this. It’s where Eren will let him when the time comes.

He puppets Eren’s head towards him.

“Have you finally outgrown your constant need for someone to tell you what’s right and wrong, that you’re doing the right thing, that you’re capable of it?”

He rubs at the tension, months of hunching, curled up like a dog, lowered eyes, shoulders tense. Eren swallows. It feels good to corner him. “You don’t need me anymore?”

“I need you,” Eren says, steadies his shaking hands between his legs. He’s not as fearless as he touts, as his letters made it seem. “I’d still fuck you,” he mumbles, “I’m still good for that.”

“Guess now you get daddy’s approval from someone much closer to the source,” Levi can’t help himself.

“You’re a fucker.” Eren shakes his head. “He doesn’t fuck me, if that’s what you’re implying, I’m not fucking my own brother.”

“I wouldn’t put it past you,” Levi sneers.

“I know you wouldn’t,” Eren laughs bitterly. “But I’m not. I didn’t fuck you for approval.”

“Yes, you did.”

“No,” Eren insists.

Levi sighs. “You might have been a useless runt, but at least you didn’t lie to yourself.”

Eren jerks his head to detach Levi’s grip, shuffles as far as his restrains will allow. Levi lets him, lets his hand fall on his lap, watches Eren debate their knees brushing, debate looking him in the eye; he can’t. The confidence he had when they retrieved him, now all but steam, the remnants of a shattered titan. It’s the quiet times that kill you slowly.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Levi tells him, straightening. It’s a genuine sentiment. Whether he wants to admit it or not, Eren’s leading this now. Fine. Levi was always best at following.

“I thought of you,” Eren pitches, trying to keep him in the room. “I missed you,” he rushes, “You missed me any, _sir_?” His sultry tone back, lathered in exhaustion, fear, when Levi keeps walking, turns the handle and Eren, voice trembling, blurts, “Captain!” sounding fifteen-years-old.

“We did fine without you,” Levi tells him.

Eren wouldn’t have left if he hadn’t known that, if they hadn’t galloped past their limits, again and again, until their ankles met water, splashed against freedom, and Eren stared ahead, wanting more, wanting it worse than before, bloody.

Who he went as stayed on that beach, who he came back, non-negotiable.

But Levi loves to torture himself thinking he wouldn’t have left if Levi hadn’t been there one too many times calming his nightmares, feeding his fire. Levi had hate—Erwin died—he was nothing but hate, and Eren, loyal, sweet on him, grim-ripping with his vengeance. It’s on Levi, this sin.

“I’m curious, how _did_ you see it playing out?” Levi asks. He has lost count of the times he dreamt of Eren, lay in bed chastising himself, imagining the same wishful thinkings. Perhaps it would have been better if they never met again. 

“You trusted when he gambled,” Eren says.

“You’re not him.”

“Yet you thought me good enough to come. I knew you would. Even if you hated me after, you would. You can hate me—”

“I don’t hate you,” Levi reminds him. “I don’t care enough to hate you.”

“So we’re both lying to ourselves,” Eren calls him out.

“I came because you gave me no choice,” Levi snaps. “I’m standing here, talking to you, because you’re giving me no choice. Arlert, everything, it’s so you—” he cuts himself short. It’s too late to regret it and it’s too late defend Eren from something he has already become, foolish to think any one person could. Blinded by pride, Levi made himself responsible.

There have been very few choices since the start. Eren, the only true one, what Eren wants, what ensures his safety, his _sanity_. Eren needs to keep going; anyone else is disposable, a crutch, Petra, Erwin, hundreds of men and women. And now that Eren has finally realized it’s he who chooses fate, Levi wants him to stay blind and small and innocent, big-eyed about the future. Levi made this monster.

“I had to keep you happy,” he confesses. “That was my job.”

“Liar,” Eren says, bewildered, eyes darting left and right, processing, before narrowing into a deep frown making the rips on his cheeks redden like vessels. “Liar,” he repeats angrier. “You fucked me because you wanted to.”

“People are dead, Eren,” Levi reminds him. What does it matter why they fucked? Sad, desperate people do sad, desperate things for sad, desperate reasons. “And it’s just the beginning.”

“So,” Eren snaps childishly, staring at him, eyes strong and ready. “Are you gonna stand beside me?”

“Always,” Levi doesn’t hesitate. “But you don’t have my respect.”

Eren huffs, knowing he has won. “I’ll take what I can get.”

**Author's Note:**

> Much to think about with this new ereri dynamic. I hope you enjoyed. It’s short but I had to get my feelings out somewhere after the last episode. Any comments/kudos make me the happiest human in the world.
> 
> I am writing a longer ereri fic—[MARS, GOD OF WAR](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28824786)—if you want to read more. 
> 
> [Find me on twitter](https://mobile.twitter.com/popzkee).


End file.
